Capital city & tumuli
Ancient cities · Ankara

Gordion

UNESCO World HeritagePhrygian (Iron Age)81 km from Ankara

Capital of Phrygia and city of King Midas, where Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot. The great Midas Mound covers a timber tomb chamber, the oldest standing wooden building known. World Heritage since 2023.

Plan the visitIts place in history

Plan your visit

Time to allow
About 2 hours

For a first visit at an easy pace.

Stay in
Ankara

81 km away as the crow flies, so allow more on the road.

On a trip
The Hittite heartland

Day 1 of 3.

Hours and tickets
Check before you go

Opening hours and prices change: see muze.gov.tr (opens in a new tab).

Times are our estimates. Distances are straight lines.

Its place in history

Read the chapter before you go.

1000–550 BCPhrygia, Lydia, UrartuThree kingdoms followed.

Where its treasures are now

In Türkiye

Midas Mound (Tumulus MM) furniture and bronzes

c. 740 BC. Inlaid wooden serving stands, a table and bronze cauldrons from the intact royal tomb at Gordion, the best-preserved Iron Age furniture known; residues showed the funeral feast menu.

Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara
first

Earliest known decorated pebble mosaic. Gordion Megaron 2 pebble floor, c. 850–800 BC. Confirmed How sure we are →

first

Oldest standing wooden building. Tumulus MM ('Midas Mound') tomb chamber, c. 740 BC. Confirmed How sure we are →

From here

Ankara

Open in OpenStreetMap (opens in a new tab) · Directions to Gordion (opens in a new tab)

Also nearby

  • museum
    Erimtan Archaeology and Arts Museum

    Anatolian seals, Urartian objects

  • museum
    Gordion Museum

    Phrygian finds, Midas Mound

  • museum
    Museum of Anatolian Civilizations

    Çatalhöyük, Hittite, Phrygian, Urartian collections

  • museum
    Roman Baths of Ankara (open-air museum)

    Roman bath complex

Location precise · Source (opens in a new tab)